


When Tomorrow Becomes Today

by opalmatrix



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Awkwardness, Established Relationship, F/M, Starting Over, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 03:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11394021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: Machi's about to enter her first year at Hokkaido University, and the day she's been waiting for has finally arrived.





	When Tomorrow Becomes Today

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BottledUpWishes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BottledUpWishes/gifts).



> BottledUpWishes said that "Anything Yuki/Machi related is good. Happy endings are appreciated," and also gave the prompt "Matching bookmarks." I think I managed to fit that all in! Many thanks to my Beta readers, [**lawless523**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lawless) and [**whymzycal**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whymzycal).

Machi stepped off the bus at the stop nearest her new apartment building. The afternoon Sapporo air was clear and just a little warm from the sun. The sky was a spectacular blue, with just a few white puffs of cloud scattered about it. In Tokyo, it would still be warm and muggy, with autumn's color two months off, but here in Hokkaido, the tips of the leaves on the trees had already caught fire.

Still, even the prettiest and most refreshing weather couldn't make a heavy bag full of textbooks any easier to carry. Machi was glad that the building was only two streets over from the bus stop.

She lugged the bookstore bag into the lobby. "Ah, Kuragi-san! Good afternoon!" said the porter from her seat behind the counter. She was a stocky woman with forearms like a wrestler's, exposed by the rolled-up sleeves of her denim shirt with the building's name on the pocket. "You have mail: letters in the mailbox and another two boxes from Tokyo. Shall I bring them up now?"

"Please, porter-san," said Machi. She put the heavy bag on the floor near the mailboxes and unlocked hers: a letter from the university, probably containing yet another form to fill out, and a postcard of the zoo in Tokyo. It was from Manabe: _So are you all moved in yet? Are you spending a lot of time with Yuki-President-sama?_

_No, I'm not,_ she thought at her half brother, crossly. It was the answer to both questions, in fact. He was living at home and commuting to university; he had no idea how much work it was getting set up in a strange city.

Behind her, she could hear the porter humming to herself as she put Machi's boxes on the handcart. Machi snapped the mailbox shut and tucked the letters into her purse. Picking up the bag of texts, she led the way to the elevator. One-two-three-four-five, and they came to Machi's floor. After Machi unlocked the door, the woman slid the boxes neatly off the handcart onto the floor of the entry and sauntered away. "Have a good evening, Kuragi-san," she said as she shut the door behind her.

"Good evening," repeated Machi. The door had closed so quickly that the porter probably hadn't heard her. Oh well.

She dragged the heavy book bag over to the desk and unpacked the texts into the bookcase next to it. _An Introduction to the History of Psychology._ _Biology._ _Psychology: A Concise Introduction._ _Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis_. _Advanced English Grammar._ And because she had to take a humanities course besides English, _Philosophy of Law_. She ran her finger down its spine, thinking about Yuki.

_Law classes can be a real challenge,_ he'd told her, on summer break. _But sometimes, I'll suddenly understand something, and I'll feel like I'm flying._

Her phone pinged. A text. If it was Manabe, she didn't want to talk to him right now. She pulled out the phone and no, it was from Yuki.

_Hi, are you settled in now?_

_Almost,_ she responded.

_Got dinner plans?_

She sat down. She shouldn't feel so weak with excitement: it was natural that he should ask her for dinner, now that they were near each other once again. _No. The groceries should be here soon, though._

_Forget the groceries. There's a great Korean place near campus. Does 6:30 sound good?_

She checked the time. It was only 4:30 now. The grocery delivery was due at 5:00. _That sounds very good. Where is the restaurant?_

_Don't worry about it. I'll come get you at your building at 6:15. OK?_

_OK. Thank you, Yuki-san._

_Just YUKI is good! I can't wait to see you, Machi-chan. Bye now._

Just Yuki. She needed to remember. _Yuki._ She tucked the phone away.

The new apartment was bare and white and very clean. The wooden floor shone, and the windows sparkled between their beige curtains. In the main room, in addition to the desk and bookcase, there was a small Western-style dining table with four straight chairs, a little settee with beige and brown upholstery, and a matching reading chair with a footstool and a floor lamp. The kitchen was at the end with the windows and had a compact refrigerator, a small sink, hanging cabinets for the dishes and dry foods, and a tall double cabinet that was half storage, half broom closet. Machi's new dishes, a present from her mother, were white with brown bands.

The only thing that was really Machi was her big Mogeta plushie, on the bookcase.

Her thoughts seemed to echo in her empty head. With an effort, she got up and took a pair of scissors to open the boxes. In the first one was a new set of bedding and—she had to smile—the quilt cover had Mogeta on it. It was from Manabe and Komaki. She would have to thank them. The second box was a new, very expensive compact rice cooker from her mother.

_The week before Machi was scheduled to leave for Sapporo, her parents had taken her out for dinner. Her mother's sister and her husband were there, too._

_"Machi is going to the University of Hokkaido," said her mother, and Machi had never heard that note of pride in her voice before._

_"Really!" exclaimed her aunt. "That's a very good school!"_

_"Very tough," said her uncle. "Well done getting in, Machi-chan. What will you study?"_

_Machi had been dreading that question, she had told Yuki, and he had helped her practice an answer. "Psychology. I want to become part of a research team in the psychology of adolescents. One of the senior professors at Hokkaido has been working with a famous professor in the United States. I want to support their efforts. Maybe someday I will do my own research as well."_

_There had been a brief silence, and Machi got nervous. Then her mother had spoken: "Well, Machi, I have never heard you speak about anything with such passion. That's good. Do your best!"_

_"PAH SHUN!" said her little brother, and they had all laughed. She had laughed too. With them, for the first time._

She smiled, just a little. And here, in a box, was motherly love. A shiny, perfect rice cooker. Was Machi someone who deserved such a rice cooker?

_That's silly. It's just a kitchen appliance._

She put it on the counter in the kitchen and left the instruction manual on the dining table. Then she carried the bedding to the bedroom. When she came back, she looked at the cardboard boxes. Boxes of love from home, filled now with crumpled wrapping materials. Messy. She pushed them into a corner of the too-perfect room and left them there.

The envelope from the school was her course schedule, with all the building names and room numbers, too. Would she be able to find all these places next week? Would she have time to get from one class to the next? She sat down at her desk and pulled out her map of the campus and the bus schedule. Soon the memo booklet that she carried in her purse was full of notes and hand-drawn snippets of maps.

The grocery delivery came and went. She unpacked the frozen meat, the vegetables and fruit, and the sauces and seasonings. The kitchen began to look as though someone actually lived there. She still had time to kill before Yuki would arrive. She tried to read, but couldn't focus. At last she ended up watching an episode of the second season of Mogeta, the one where Nao shows up and asks for help, and Ari doesn't want to go at first.

At last it was 6:00. She should change. Clothes were too many decisions. A skirt and blazer? It looked like a schoolgirl uniform. She was a college student now. Komaki had gone shopping with her and picked out jeans, among other things. Machi put them on, and an embroidered T shirt, and a sweater shrug. Komaki had picked those out, too. She looked in the mirror. It was a nice look, even if she didn't recognize herself from the neck down.

_Cheer up, Kuragi,_ she admonished herself. _This is the 'tomorrow' you've been waiting for!_

She went down and met Yuki in the lobby. The porter was looking him over. She nodded approvingly at Machi as they left. Yuki smiled at her as they got out onto the street. "You look nice. I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans before."

"Komaki-san helped me pick them out," she said. His warm gaze was making her blush, so she looked down at her toes. Her loafers were new, too, but not much different from her previous pair.

"Komaki-kun has good taste," said Yuki. "Here, we turn right at this corner."

The restaurant front was brightly lit and smelled deliciously of grilled marinated meat. They were seated almost immediately. "We're early for this place," Yuki explained. "Later on in the evening, they get really crowded. In fact, they're open all night long. What do you want to order?"

"I don't know," said Machi, looking at the menu. The dishes all had strange names. She'd never eaten Korean food. She'd never eaten most things: at home, she'd cooked breakfast and dinner for herself and eaten lunch at school. She'd never even been to a sushi bar before Yuki took her. Had he forgotten that? "The meat smells so good," she said at last.

"I'll order some _galbi_ —grilled short ribs. And _bi bim bap_ : that's a rice dish with egg and vegetables. They'll grill the beef right here at the table."

Sure enough, the center portion of the table lifted out to reveal a circular grill. The waitress started it up and brought the raw meat, arranging it on the surface of the grill. Then she returned with many little dishes of different vegetables and pickles, which Yuki said were called _banchan_. When the meat was ready, he showed her how to put it on lettuce leaves with sauce and sliced scallions, and then roll it up and eat it. It was hard to feel awkward while eating delicious food with her fingers, and Machi began to relax.

"What did you do today?" asked Yuki, as they finished the meat and started on the _bi bim bap_.

"I got my textbooks," said Machi. "So many, and they're so thick and heavy. I have a lot to learn this term."

"I got mine yesterday, and I feel the same way. Did you go to Konando? That's where I went."

"Yes. They were giving out bookmarks: Beautiful Wildlife of Hokkaido. Look—" Machi fished her bookmark out of her purse. "It's a Sika deer."

"Look at that!" Yuki laughed. "I got the same one! We're like twins. Remember how Manabe-kun said I used to be like a baby deer?"

"Yes," said Machi. "I'm sorry that my brother is so annoying."

"Don't be sorry. Manabe-kun taught me not to take myself so seriously. It was a good lesson." They ate for a minute in silence. Finally Yuki said, "How do you like your new apartment?"

"Not all that much," she said. "It's very new and clean and … and perfect. The walls are all white and bare."

"You need some posters," sad Yuki.

"The management wouldn't like it if I made holes in the wall," Machi protested.

"There's a special poster putty you can use," Yuki told her. "It sticks to the wall, but it comes off when you need to move out. I think they have some at the bookstore. Hey, I know. There's a manga shop on the next block. They might have some, and I'm sure they have posters. Are you finished eating?"

"Yes." Machi got out her wallet, but Yuki shook his head. "I can pay," she protested. "I get an allowance, Yu-, Yu…."

"'Yuki,'" he said, encouragingly. She felt angry tears trying to start in her eyes as he paid the bill. "What's the matter?" he asked, when the waitress was gone.

"Sohma-san, you don't need to tell me how to say your name!" she burst out. "I just needed a minute! I'm not stupid." Then she looked down at the table, her cheeks hot. _I can't believe I let that out._

Yuki stared at her, his mouth slightly open. Then his eyes dropped as well. _Great,_ Machi thought, _Now we're both sitting here, staring at the table._

He spoke first. "I'm sorry, Kuragi-san. That was presumptuous of me. I should know better."

"I'm sorry I lost my temper," she said. "But Manabe used to do that—finish my sentences for me. It makes me wild."

He had a small, sad smile now, but he was looking at her, at least. "I'm sure. Nii-san used to do that to me too, sometimes. Are we friends again?"

She took a deep breath. "I hope we are. Can we stop being formal?"

"Of course, Machi-chan. Let's go look at posters, OK? It's not even 8:00."

She nodded, feeling like she'd stepped back from the edge of a cliff. They went back out onto the street, and Yuki led the way again. After a few minutes, Machi realized that they were walking along the east edge of the campus. The manga store was still open, and they had posters: two racks of manga-anime posters and one of assorted other subjects. Machi picked out one of all the Mogeta characters together, and then one of falling autumn leaves blowing past Sapporo's Fushimi Inari Shrine. "I like autumn," she told Yuki.

"Because it's messy," he said, and she nodded.

"It's imperfect and beautiful at the same time," she said.

She insisted on paying for her posters, and Yuki remembered to ask about the poster putty. The cashier let her pay for one packet and then threw in another for free. Outside the shop, Machi expected that the evening was over, but Yuki wasn't finished. "It's not that late. I want to show you something, on campus."

"All right," she said. "As long as you walk me home."

"Of course!" He smiled, a soft, sweet smile that made her heart turn over.

They walked for about 20 minutes, along pathways and among classroom buildings. Suddenly they entered a quadrangle in front of a formal, Western-style building. "Look," said Yuki. 

"It's … very tidy," she said.

"You think it's tidy now! Just imagine what it looks like in the snow." He looked at her and grinned, an urchin grin that made him look almost like his cousin Momiji.

"Ah!" she said, understanding and pleased by it.

"You see what I'm thinking? It's the perfect spot for our snow dance, like we always planned. After the first snowfall. Is it a date?"

"Of course!" she said, and she couldn't help but smile.


End file.
